The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to action last weekend for the first of three events in one week. The UFC put safety measures into place amid the coronavirus pandemic which included testing for every fighter, staff member, and media member in attendance.
While the UFC has successfully brought live sports back, there has been some criticism directed at their policies and UFC president Dana White.
However, following their most recent event on Wednesday night, White discussed how successful the measures have been as the promotion attempts to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved.
“A lot of criticism coming into this week, the fact that we wanted to go, and this d*ck head from The New York Times that found out MMA was popular,” White said, via MMAjunkie.com. “We’ve had two events now, all the testing that we’ve done, (and) we’ve had one positive. And I don’t know, you guys (reporters) sit in a different position than I. I don’t know how you feel how the whole thing has gone or how it’s felt, and if you’ve felt safe here, if you’ve felt comfortable, but it’s worked.
“We did what we said we would do. I don’t want to shoot my mouth off – we still have one more to go – but so far, so good. I think what you see now is now you see all the other sports leagues talking about, ‘We’re going.’
“Somebody had to get out and be first. I knew we would be, and I knew we could pull it off safely. Like I said before, health and safety is something we worry about all the time. So far it’s been super successful.”
Hopefully the success will continue as more sports begin to outline guidelines for returning to play.
Up next for the UFC is an event on Saturday, May 16. The event, UFC on ESPN 8, which is headlined by a heavyweight bout between Alistair Overeem and Walt Harris at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville.
